HOmE SwEEt hoME...

29 Dec 2011... went to nainai's house and finally able to eat my fav chee cheong fun at redhill market... they have upgraded the place a little and you can choose how much chee cheong fun you want now rather than a standard portion... the downside though is that it is really oily, the chee cheong fun is literally dripping with oil... and we are seriously getting too big for nainai's house now... the government now wants to tear it down and build taller flats in the next 2 years... I will definitely miss redhill, the place where I spent most of my childhood days... must remember to take some pics when I return again... uncle peter came and met us and we made our way to the temple at river valley 'Ju Si Lin'... and then another temple at bugis, 'Guan Yin Miao'... it was soo packed as usual at guan yin miao, no matter what time and day you go... after that, uncle wanted to treat us to dim sum, so we made our way to orchard, probably not the best time to go to orchard, but hey, I am not turning down a treat... got there and it was quite late already, decided to check out if there is a crystal jade close by, but found a 'Din Tai Feng' instead at Wisma, but it was packed and people were queuing... so in the end, decided to eat at food junction instead, which was fine with me, cos I got to eat my fish with rice... uncle did treat us to haagen daz dessert though... it was good... nainai was exhausted by the time we arrived home, I was too...

30 Dec 2011... my one day observation... started off meeting wanru at SGH for the inservice which silvana was presenting... their OT dept was much bigger than us... and the literature article which silvana was presenting on was too "chim" for me, did not understand what she was talking abt, and I did mention that to her later that day... and silvana's response was that it was one of the easiest article already... was taken around the outpatients hands dept for a quick walk around... they have much more machines and resources than us... it made me feel so dumb standing next to them... cos the only splints I made so far and with help, were 2 resting splints to date... sigh... caught the shuttle bus to AH... apparently it underwent some renovations but the hospital was mostly non air conditioned still... it was hot and disgusting... followed some therapists to see patients... the main concerns are not being able to speak dialects (ie when one of the patients was speaking to one of the OTs in Hokkien, I was standing there catching no ball at all), the difference in systems (ie no equipment loans, pts had to buy their own equipment, pts have to pay for our services, very skill and component focused ie using stacking of cones, scooping of marbles to remediate lost function), fast paced environment (not having the time to write notes after seeing each patient and having to memorise and document at the end of the day)... the approach is very much throwing you in the deep end and you can learn to swim on your own... which I don't know how I will be able to manage... it was interesting to see what it's like working here, but obviously I was only there for a day and apparently the rehab service at AH is fairly new... so probably not being able to see the whole picture... it was so hot in the wards and I seriously was dozing and yawning every 5 mins...

went to meet silvana for dinner after work, zhenzhen did not come as she was ill apparently... wanted to eat marche but there was a long queue when we got there... so we ended up eating at this fast food place similar to nando's... the burger was not bad... but expensive... whilst we were sitting there eating dinner, I realised that the 2 people sitting diagonally across from me were xu zhengrong and ponsak... not that we did anything about it... but xu zhenrong was talking pretty loudly and I could hear what he was saying... it got really packed when we were leaving though... went up to the deck and took some pictures... then went for dessert at ben and jerry's... wanted the brownie but they ran out of it, hence settled for the waffle one... the waffle was so stale and soggy that we actually had to tear it off rather than breaking it off... so I took it back to the counter and requested that we get another one made... the lady at the counter kept insisting that they just made it fresh and it was meant to be like that... I eventually decided to stop arguing with her and turned around wanting to walk back to our seat when this guy walked up and indicated that he would make another new one for us... silvana is going away to houston for 2 months as an attachment learning more abt spasticity... and apparently that meant that another year would be added to her bond...

31 Dec 2011... new year's eve... went out for lunch at tung lok, mum's treat... it's apparently a dim sum and seafood buffet... the food was not too bad, but obviously expensive... did not do anything much after that... finished watching the latest ep of running man... and started watching the various countdowns on tv... caught the fireworks live at home... not as pretty as sydney's though... and we could only see the higher ones... did not bother with resolutions cos I don't keep them anyway...

1 Jan 2012... Happy new Year... year of the dragon... hmmm... went to ah ma's house for a visit in the am and stayed till early pm... ah ma is looking better than last I saw her, she's walking better now... went to city square mall for some stuff and headed home... baked pandan cake this time, and it was very successful this time... the cake was yummy, and pretty much gone by the next day... the recipe is not too difficult, the only difficulties are the type of mixer you need and pandan leaves... otherwise I would bake that instead of my really boring but still nice flourless choc cake... uncle jeffrey and auntie came for a visit and it was really nice of them to 'dabao' my fav 'you jian yu'... it was really nice, nicer than the one at tung lok but again, literally dripping with oil...

2 Jan 2012... fran invited us over to her house for lunch... got to clementi and walked around with huimin to look for a gift for fran's mum, got her some new year goodies in the end... got to fran's house and it was soo hot (as usual)... she only had fan at her place and they were small fans... one look at the food and I was like yup, luckily I ate something before I came... did not eat much... her mum can really talk... about anything... similar to auntie peggy actually... went downstairs to chat a little... her condo has alot of facilities, more than us actually... and it's really nice... there's air conditioned function rooms where you can hang out, gym, pool... came back home after, and went out for dinner at chomp chomp at upper serangoon... it was packed with people, mostly teenagers... everyone was willing to stand and wait around for empty tables even though it's so crowded, smoky and hot... definitely not a place I would willingly return again, and the food is not exceptional... lao ba sha has similar food and more varieties... and not crowded and smoky like that...

3 Jan 2012... went to watch 'we bought a zoo' with pong at iluma... deja vu bcos we were again the only two people in the theatre... it was cool but a little creepy... i like the place though... the seats are comfy and not crowded... iluma was undergoing construction hence not many shops are open, and it was really quiet... good place to go if you just want a quiet place to hang out... i liked the movie... touching... finally got to watch this after the failed attempt last week... found this really cool jap ramen restaurant with a really cool concept... so there are 6 different ramen shops all in the same place, what we have to do is choose one and after that, vote for your fav ramen shop and apparently, they have until june 30 before the votes are collated and the best ramen shops can stay whilst the rest have to go... and the whole layout of the place is cool... the ramen was really spicy but good... met up with angie at bugis after, walked around a little, the top floor where there were many cute shops have gone... nothing very exciting now... angie still is the same... she has finally completed her medical degree and is starting her internship at a Perth hospital soon... really happy for her... she's always been smart and hardworking... caught a train to Plaza Singapura, walked around a little, and there is a bodyshop sale going on, could not resist checking it out and ended up spending money on body butter and facial wash... but it was alot cheaper than usual... it was needless to say, packed with people looking for a bargain... angie left for her dinner and I met up with piyo and inthu for dinner at swensen's... went back to bodyshop again after cos they wanted to buy stuff... I was standing around waiting for them when I saw someone who looked alot like wanru walking around, but something was different abt her, so I did not call out to her... she walked around a booth and came back to where I was again, I was considering whether to try and call out to her when she looked up, saw me and waved... I was like, it is wanru... both of us started laughing... she permed her hair, so that was the difference, and hongrui rocked up as well... what a coincidence... cos everyone knew each other, so everyone said hi and went back to doing their bodyshop bargain hunting... on the way home, piyo kept asking if I am able to at least attend her morning ceremony, and I felt bad cos I missed her registration and now not able to make it to her reception, so I said ok, will sacrifice and wake up early in the am to get to her place at sengkang at 0800.. the problem is I don't have the right clothes to wear... now I have to go look for something more presentable to wear as opposed to top and jeans... it's difficult to buy clothes here now cos they are all so small... had a look at topshop and dorothy perkins already and they did not have anything nice... even OG is selling all the chinese new year clothes... otoke??!!

brought nainai out to chinatown today... it was so hot, and the problem with chinatown is there are no proper toilets... urggh... went to OG, CK, and the markets, and it was full of people even though it was a weekday and people should be at school or at work... decided to try this korean restaurant on mosque st, it was expensive, but i thought the food was not too bad... just the price was too high... the main reason I chose the place was becos they had kimchi fried rice... I still prefer the ceci's way of cooking... the breadshop is still there... so of course, bought some bread... the only thing that did not go well today was nainai wanted a haircut, so we chanced upon this hair salon offering haircuts for $8, was standing outside waiting when pong came out saying that nainai cut her ear... went it and nainai was bleeding from the ear, the hairdresser has accidentally cut her ear when cutting her hair... the hairdresser indicated that she would not charge us becos of this... and it appeared to be superficial when I had a look but it is still bleeding when we arrived home... hopefully the bleeding will stop soon otherwise, we may have to go to the doctors'... did not seem serious enough a matter to sue the hair salon but I thought the bleeding should have ceased by now...

终于回到家。。。

24 Dec 2011... arrival in singapore, home sweet home... was asked at the airport if I would like to volunteer to go on a later flight as my flight was overbooked, so I put my name down but was not needed in the end... lost out on a refund of AUD$400 and meal being paid for... damn... first time sitting right next to the emergency exit, good thing is more leg room and the screen is not so close to you, bad things are no windows, the tray is very narrow and close to you making it difficult to eat... was turbulent approaching singapore due to the rain apparently... first thing I did when I landed was head to the foodcourt and ate fishball noodle... yummy! the fishballs are sooo much more fresher here... and my iced lemon tea from Macdonalds'... arrived home finally, rested a little, and unpacked my stuff...

25 Dec 2011... went to whampoa market for breakfast and proceeded to visit temples to give thanks for their blessings for the past year... went out for dinner with auntie esther and uncle jeffrey... did not like the food at all, and it was totally not worth it for the price we paid...

26 Dec 2011... went out to upper thomson for prata for breakfast... and when we arrived, there were already alot of people even though it was quite early... apparently this place is quite famous for its prata... shop name is called casuarina prata... the prata was not as nice as the hype was... probably becos I prefer my prata to be a little less crispy... baked Kueh lapis when we got back home... it was a very tedious cake to bake... and the outcome was not as successful... well, this is probably the last time we will be baking this... knowing what actually goes into the cake... met up with huimin and fran at clementi for dinner... new shopping centre at clementi (what's new?)... ended up eating chai tao kui at the hawker centre, not bad... and after that, huimin bought bubble tea and we went to sit and chat at the food court... both of them looked the same...

27 Dec 2011... brought nainai to new shopping centre Nex... got there too early and the shops are not open yet... usually open around 11am... bumped into uncle peter and family... sat down and chatted alittle with them, and had long john silver's for lunch... yummy... and proceeded to the peranakan museum... not many people which was really good and rare nowadays really... when we completed the tour, it started to pour and nainai was hungry, so took a bus to city square mall and it was pouring outside, so we had to stay indoors and wait for the rain to subside before heading to san yi po's house... finally the rain stopped and we stayed and chatted for awhile before heading home... bought ben and jerry's and haagen dazz ice cream... not that they were any cheaper really...

28 Dec 2011... woke up in the morning and headed to macritchie reservoir for a little exercise, after eating all that food for the last few days... the weather was pretty good in the morning but started pouring when we returned home... went out for lunch at IMM, had swensen's... yummy! had both mains and dessert... was so stuffed after... made our way to Vivocity planning to watch a movie... we bought a zoo... it was sooo crowded when we got there... long queues at the theatres... was told that it was pretty much fully booked that session and the next session as well... decided not to watch... did a little shopping, visited this largest floating library called Logos Hope... decided to head home after as we were both tired...

SOme ENLighTEnmENt pLs...

had a long weekend but pretty much did nothing but present shopping, and as usual, there are crowds everywhere busy doing xmas shopping, and stuff are definitely not cheap now... after 3 days of searching, finally found stuff which were more appropriate... received my kris kringle present today... some really lollipops (did not know they were lollipops initially), another xmas bauble which says Aussie Oi Oi Oi, God knows what that means... and lastly a book called Aussie Slang dictionary (this is a joke) becos apparently I am lacking in my knowledge of aussie slang... my first thought was yup another useless book (remember I got given a 'recipe' book with really weird stuff to cook before and is still sitting in the box, cannot even regift them)...

the weather has been holding up pretty good, considering we are now in summer, temp are still in low 20's, raining on some days, but definitely better than stinking hot so I am definitely not complaining...

today was called into the manager's office for a chat, cos some people have concerns about me not managing my workload, me included... for some reason, I am just not getting through patients as quick as others, and I myself cannot understand the reason for this... and it's definitely not like I am not working hard, but the first thing my manager said to me was 'since you started in aged care, you do not look happy'... which is probably true... I really want to know what I am doing wrong becos I am quite stressed and not even having a full caseload... so now I have got Karen, Collette and Deanna helping me work out some strategies, and hopefully they work and will get to the stage when I am managing a full caseload efficiently and be on top of it... so to borrow Gary's famous word... STRESS!!!

OnE MOrE WeeK...

after saying in the last post that I have had enough of xmas parties, I decided to attend the rehab dinner... cos it was chinese and the price was reasonable... so went for the dinner yesterday, the food was crap, but I had a better time as compared to the aged care dinner...

work has been really stressful this week, can't sleep as a result... and yesterday, I was working till 6pm to finish up handovers, student stuff and the plan to do some stats did not happen at all... I am so glad that the week is over and it's a long weekend for me this week... really looking forward to going home...

went out for lunch this afternoon to celebrate uncle's birthday and we went to takeru... and went to watch mission impossible 4 after... it was ok, not as good as I thought it would be... and we went to watch new year's eve last week, I thought that it was really touching, although it did not get good ratings... 2 more movie tickets left which are expiring when I am away, so I am trying to sell it to work people...

nothing really much happening at this stage, mainly work being very stressful, still watching running man... no new dramas, previewed the chinese remake of brilliant legacy, with jerry yen in it, not as nice... now that xmas is approaching, the shops are so crowded... looking for gifts for people... today when we were at macquarie, I found a huge box of guylian chocolates for only $20!!! bought one box but am seriously thinking of buying more... one more week to home sweet home...

nO moRE xMaS paRtiEs PLs...

this weekend was a weekend of work xmas parties... it was more obligation than me wanting to go really... friday night was the aged care one... I was not wanting to go becos it was $50 for dinner and additional for drinks... and work on friday was really busy, so by the time we finish, I was already getting a headache... and my period really did not help by deciding to come on that day too... Bonita one of the social workers invited me to change at her place, so went there with Laura and Katherine another social worker, got changed and headed to the venue... the venue was quite nice, and they must have booked out the entire place, cos we were the only ones there... I can't say the same abt the food and the dessert though... a waste of money... left abt 2130 cos it was a long drive home and the headache was getting worse... and the dress I was wearing was not the most comfortable either...

one of the good things this week was that despite it being the the start of summer, it is actually quite cool now... wish that the weather would stay like that for longer...

yesterday was the OT dept xmas party at rooty hill rsl... I went to all 3 things: bowling, dinner and laser tag... despite having bowling on xbox, it was definitely not the same as playing the actual thing, cos I really sucked during the game yesterday... there were quite a few people playing bowling and after that, went to dinner, the food was not great again... and most of the dept came... but the conversation was not as funny as the last time at Kate's farewell... not sure why, could be bcos people were tired (like me) or becos the managers were there so may not be appropriate to gossip about other people, which was pretty much what we were doing that night... and after dinner, there was laser tag... alot of people pulled out of that, I did not feel like going, but on the other hand, I wanted to know what it was and so ended up going... there were only abt 9 of us in the end... 2 games of 20 mins each... it was exciting and fun in like the first 15 mins, and after that it was like oh man when is this going to end... and becos out numbers are little, we had to play with other people as well... it was not as scary as I thought it would be... but by the end of 2 games, we were all sweating and yucky...

so in summary, my pocket now has a huge gaping hole and had enough of xmas parties and work people for now...

霉运走开。。。

seriously... my luck has not been good this past 2 months... had the car accident a few weeks back and now, Auris decided to die on me this afternoon at the petrol station... was on my way to macquarie centre when I decided to stop over at caltex to pump petrol... paid for the petrol and went back to the car and it would not start... and there was a long queue behind me... had to apologise to the drivers behind and went into the store to see if the attendants could help... they were nice enough to come and see if they could start the car, but Auris just would not start... so they had to manually push the car to the side... initially one of them asked me to steer the wheel and use the handbrake to stop if I need to... it sounded easy but when I tried, it was really difficult to turn the wheel... so in the end, one of them got into the car and the other pushed the car... and it did not help that it was boiling hot today... it was disgusting... so Auris is now parked aside, there was no shady area... and I called roadside assist whom told me that they would be there within the hour... so I was waiting at the station for more than an hour before the guy finally showed up... diagnosis was a flat battery... decided to change it on the spot and that cost me $150... I was worried that I might not be able to turn up for work the next day really... and whilst waiting in the store... I saw Angela... seriously it's such a small world... and yesterday bumped into Charlie at Daiso... after the battery was changed, continued my journey to macquarie and it was sooo crowded... did my errands and came back home...

seriously... maybe I need to go pray in the temple soon... although thank god it happened at the petrol station and not in the middle of God knows where or on the highway on the way to work...

other than that, nothing really much happening... still have yet to hear back whether leave for April has been approved, and pong has got me hooked on this Korean variety show called Running Man...

oh and work wise... the new MRT OT has been recruited and she started last week... she apparently worked at Nepean before so alot of the people there knew her... other than that, she seemed nice enough...

COUNtDoWN to XMaS sTArts...

this post will mainly be my thoughts about the Kpop concert... there were as expected alot of asians and minority of caucasians... it was pretty packed, especially in the more expensive seats... it was actually quite hot that day, when we arrived, there were already lots of people there, not only kpop wannabes like us, but whole families there, with young kids tagging along...

did not know most of the bands who came, and I was really disappointed that SNSD only sang 3 songs, and there was some issues with the microphones, which was really annoying... I enjoyed most of the performances... and the good thing was, even though my camera was not the greatest and I could not really see their faces unless I watch the screens, I enjoyed the 3 hour show seated... reason being... prior to the start of the show, there was this man coming around offering a free upgrade of seats to the ones in front, where you are seated on plastic chairs (oh and talking about chairs, the seats in the stadium are really crap!!!) and are at the same height as everybody else, whereas where we sat, it's sloping downwards... so when the show started, people started standing up on their chairs, which meant that other people would also have to stand otherwise you can forget about watching anything... so prisy who had the gold tix (courtesy of a gift) was standing for the whole show, and as expected she was complaining at the end... so thankfully, even though the seats are not great, at least we were not uncomfortable and not tired from the standing... on the whole, I did enjoy the show and glad that I went... cos apparently the SNSD concert in s'pore is so expensive and even then, the tix were sold out really quickly...

that was pretty much the main highlight at this stage... looking forward to my next day off at the end of the month, I have learnt my lesson of not leaving such a long gap between my ADOs, I have been spoilt with having ADOs every month now and becos I had the Oct one during the long weekend, and the next one is 6 weeks later, I am really feeling it... aged care is so tiring and busy... and monotonous really... and after my ADO this month, xmas parties... the aged care one which I did not feel like going but feel like I have to go, is on 2 dec (fri) and the dept one which does not sound too bad this year (bowling, dinner and laser tag) unlike the one last one (thank god I did not go), is on 3 dec (sat). The headache is the aged care party has a traditional costume theme, which I don't have, cos there is no way I am going to fit into a cheongsam... have tried looking at costume shops online, no success whatsoever... and they are all so expensive... it better be good food and company...

oh and another thing which has been bugging me for awhile and I blame this entirely on Ren... awhile ago, he said to me that he has decided to matchmake me with PT 1, despite me explaining and saying no, becos PT 1 is much younger than me and younger than pong... it would be really weird... but no, Ren kept asking me off and on and there were some really awkward moments when PT 1 and I are in the same room with Ren and he kept dropping these comments... and now, for some unknown reason, he has decided that maybe PT 2 would also be another good candidate... so the whole cycle is starting again, me saying no again bcos again, PT 2 is also younger than me and I am not interested... and it just seemed inappropriate... and who knows whether PT 1 and PT 2 knows about this... or is Ren just joking around becos... hey he's got nothing better to do... so now, not knowing whether they know, and I still have yet to gather up enough courage to ask and expose Ren's joke... it is really awkward and disturbing at times... and I so did not have this problem until Ren decided to tell me about this stupid matchmaking thing... damn you, Ren, this is all your fault :( When will I have the courage to confront PT1 and PT 2 and expose Ren's joke ??!!! (I am still convinced this is a joke on his part btw and both of them don't know about this and I am the only one stupidly feeling really awkward here)

and now I have become hooked to Running Man thanks to pong...

thank GOD and my LUcKy STArs...

work wise... we've been quite busy last week, as there was only 3 of us instead of 4... and I was told that I have not been managing my caseload very well... but after talking it through with deanna and collette, I am gradually finding my pace and knowing what to do and what not to do... there is ALOT of toileting assessments, practically one for every patient I see...

saw zhenzhen's wedding pics posted on facebook, it looked really grand and she looked really nice in her wedding dress and her other change of dress... can't believe she's married... congratulations to her again...

decided to organise a gathering at my place in Jan 2012 when I am back home... invited approx 20 people and nobody except jo and fran replied... I have even thought of the games we would be playing... so I am crossing my fingers and toes hoping that most if not all of them could come... it would be really fun I think...

went to the city on sat for karaoke and for lunch... went to pancakes on the rocks for lunch... the food was not that great so don't know what the hype is all about... after karaoke, we were walking back to the car when we passed by this new korean cafe and saw the ad saying 20% of the price of kpop concert tix, so I decided that this is a sign and decided to buy the silver seats... so now it's confirmed, pong and I are going to the kpop concert on 12 Nov... yay!!! now I have to think of transport options...

sunday... steve turnbull invited us to trial his self inflatable kayak he bought... so we drove to narrabeen lake and the weather was really good and the lake was not that dirty... so we all had a go on his kayak and swam for a little while... the thing I do not like about going to places like this are that there are no change facilities and nowhere to wash off... so we had to improvise and pretty much change in public and use towels to dry and change... we decided to have korean bbq at eastwood... and I fell asleep on the return journey...

the next thing I heard was Steve exclaiming "oh shit", followed by prisy's exclamation of "shit" and something smashing into my side of the car and glass shattering... I immediately covered my face and head and turned towards the right... when I opened my eyes, all I saw was steve already out of the car, glass shards everywhere, the window on the passenger side was non-existent, but we were all ok, except for a really sore left shoulder for me... I was still trying to process what just happened... when someone peered into the car and asked if we were ok and if an ambulance was required... I was alright except for the left shoulder but didn't think any bones were broken so we said no... prisy then said she could not open her side of the door, and steve's car was a two door car... prisy then said to open steve's side of the car door and we got out of the car one at a time... walked over to the other side of the car and saw the damage done to steve's car and it then hit me that we have just been hit by another car and that steve's car looks undriveable... the family of the house which we pulled over at apparently witnessed the while incident and rang for the tow truck driver, and someone apparently rang the police as well... saw the driver and passengers of the car which hit us... all youngsters... their car appeared to have hardly any damage from where I was standing... the tow tuck people came approx 10mins later followed by the police... took down statements and verified our identities and that was pretty much it... steve went with the car in the tow truck and we had to call for a taxi to drive us back to his house where auris was... damn taxis are sooo expensive... but we had no other choice... luckily we were near eastwood and not at narrabeen... arrived at steve's house, collected auris and prisy drove us home cos my shoulder was sore... prisy had cuts on her legs and her left arm was sore, pong hit her head, shoulder and back, christine could not turn her neck... but thankfully nothing major... once we got home, dumped everything in the washing machine, took turns showering, prayed, rang mum and papa to tell them of the incident and that we are ok... and decided to make our way to castle towers medical centre... I wanted to get a referral to get an xray done to make sure that nothing was broken... when we got there, we were told that there was no doctors available... so I decided to take a day off today to see the doctor...

so apparently what happened was... we were driving along blaxland road on the outer lane... the car which was hit us was apparently coming out of the driveway and wanting to turn right onto the opposite direction, so the driver must have seen that there was no oncoming traffic on the opposite side of the road and decided to accelerate out to turn right, without noticing that steve's car was coming towards him on his side of the road... and his car pretty much accelerated into the left side of us... apparently steve saw the car coming out of the driveway, but we have the right of way hence the other driver had to give way to us... but obviously that did not happen and steve tried to turn the car towards the right but there was not much of maneuvring space as we were on the outer lane already... and it was too late... the left side of his car was hit straight on by the other car which was accelerating...

went with pong to see the doctor today, she recommended that I take painkillers and apply heat and ice packs for now, no need for scans unless the soreness does not subside over the next few days and gave me 2 days off work... pretty much the same thing for pong, I was more worried about her head but apparently that has settled since... so now here I am blogging away, have today and tomorrow off work, which in normal circumstances would be really good, but definitely not like this... my shoulder is still quite sore if I move it, but otherwise it's alright... the doctor also found a bruise on the left side of my neck, from the seatbelt... which I did not even notice, cos it was not painful or sore at all... but quite obvious now that I know it's there...

was thinking about the incident just before I slept yesterday... was alittle scared of driving following the incident yesterday... could still feel the impact of the car smashing into our side... the shock of something like this happening... so thankful that all of us were not seriously injured, thanks to steve, his car taking most of the impact, also thought of the fact that the glass shards did not cut our face or our eyes... was also thankful that I did not see the incident happening, whereas pong and prisy apparently saw it happening... I would be more afraid of driving if I actually saw it happening... I am also more cautious now when I drove today...

lessons learnt: when mum tells us to pray before leaving the house, like yesterday, do it... and be extra careful when driving, you never know, there are all sorts of stupid idiots on the road...

NEEd to finD New EnTerTainMent...

october long weekend... did not do much cos it was either raining or really cloudy... still quite cold atm...

sat... went all the way to banksia to eat the lebanese bread... it was a really long drive but apparently that was the quickest non-toll way to banksia... after that, went to the city, karaoke and went for dinner at din tai feng... I still think the xiao long bao there is the best...

sunday... stayed at home cos it was raining... did not do much...

monday... went for breakfast and did some shopping, bought a blouse...

tuesday... ado... sent pong to uni and did more shopping and bought more clothing... urggh... I did not think I am a shopping person but apparently I am... got to read some of the new in death book... my shelf is running out of space to store these books...

prisy decided not to go to kpop concert... pong having her exams around that time... ahhh... still cannot get good seats... dunno if we should still go??!! I really want to... just found out that SNSD having a concert in singapore in december... ahhhh... why can't they have it when I am there???

I have decided that having an ado following a long weekend is not wise at all, especially when your next ado is like 6 weeks' away... sian...

韩潮。。。

survived my first week of rotation into aged care... it was not really busy so it was not too bad, and the thing I like about aged care is that the team actually cares about what you say and recommend and if I feel that the pt still has some OT issues, and not safe for discharge, the team is happy for me to do what I have to do prior to discharge... unlike in acute, they don' t care... the not so good thing, ?fast paced and I am still trying to get used to it... I was initially worried about going to all these different case conferences, but now I do see the benefits of going to them every day... so aged care is not too bad at this stage... do I miss mobile rehab??? yes and no...

have been soo hooked onto this korean drama called My girlfriend is a gumiho... prisy has been pestering me to watch for ages now and I was so reluctant bcos I did not like any of the main leads... and then finally decided to watch last week, and oh man, I am sooo sucked into the show and I am so in denial still, but I think I am starting to like lee seung gi... ahhhhh... I started looking up strong heart and 1 night 2 days, becos of him... the whole of last week, the only thing on my mind was the show... it's really cute and funny... I really like the main leads... they are so cute together...

start of a 4 day weekend... nothing planned so far, should probably make good use of this rare break, hopefully it does not rain...

SEpt 11...

last saturday's much anticipated meat and wine co lunch turned out to be not that great, we were told that there was no lunch special on the weekends when we arrived, hence we had to order from the main menue, and there I was looking forward to having my chicken parmigiana... ended up eating this grilled chicken burger... but I did have my lindt iced chocolate, which does make up for some parts and also went karaoke...

nothing much happening this past week... it's my day off again tomorrow, but not doing anything special... 2 more weeks before rotation... found out who the new MRT PT was, and it was unexpected, the new PT is nice but have never really worked with her before, so we'll see how the next 2 weeks go...

have been hooked on korean dramas nowadays... the latest one being city hunter, I have to say, the plot is pretty good and the cast is great as well... and needless to say, lee min ho is hot in the show... he wasn't that good looking in personal taste, but in city hunter, he's really cool... and this morning, becos I was dropping pong off to school, I turned on the tv whilst having breakfast, and had a nice surprise... sbs has this new program called popasia tv... 2 hours nonstop asian music videos and mostly Kpop music... we were all so excited and screaming like we have never seen these mv before like when Genie (SNSD), Ugly (2NE1) came on tv... now there's something to look forward to on tv every sunday morning...

went to lunch with the family yesterday at chatswood, it was sooo crowded, not that it's not usually that crowded... but found out that there was a fair going on... it was really exciting... all the food stores were the more exciting ones... had lunch at this shanghainese place and then went to eat again at that fair... bought this potato chips on a stick thing, which was really nice, nutella wrap... which was good... the taiwanese pancake was disappointing... and there were performances going on as well... and Kpop is definitely becoming bigger, as there was this group of 2 asian girls, dancing to Kpop music...

still not getting good tickets for the Kpop concert... and the silver seats are so much more expensive... will continue to check, but I really want to go... can't decide if we should go even if the seats are crap...

CAKeD oUt...

an update on my past birthday week... last saturday, met up with the uni girlies for lunch at takeru at chatswood... it was good to see them again, haven't seen some of them for quite awhile, although not all could make it... and in the evening... had the MRT dinner at the korean hotpot place in eastwood... I enjoyed myself, mainly cos most of them had not had korean food before, and it was their first taste, and from what I heard, most of them liked it, except for Kara, and I finally found someone who is even more picky than me when it comes to food... after dinner, we proceeded to go to this korean bakery across the road... and Reem bought me another cake... I had a really enjoyable time, and it was good to hang out with the team outside of work...

sunday... pong and I drove up to blue mountains, stopped over at Leura first, on recommendations from work people, I really enjoyed the small town, and the cute little shops... and the french vanilla cake which I like is found there as well... so I bought one for work and home... after Leura, we drove to the chocolate cafe at Katoomba, and had the apparently famous real hot chocolate drink... it was yummy, similar to what Max Brenner has... and I ate cake again, I ate till I was so sick of cakes... but I just could not resist buying the french vanilla cake... seeing as how I came all the way to the Blue Mountains... after that, we went to the 3 sisters, and as usual, it was quite crowded, being a sunday... took some pictures and then drove to our accomodation place... I have to say, it was not as nice as on the website... the room was not that nice as well, and there was no aircon... being singaporeans we are of course, used to having aircons... and the room was stuffy when we first went in... but the interior of the hotel was nice... renaissance style... so we toured the hotel and the town of Katoomba... nothing exciting, Leura was much better... and what a small little world we live in... pong and I were walking out of the hotel in search for food and in comes Ren and Kathy PT... I was like what the hell??!! seriously, of all the times and places... so had a little chat and we went our separate ways... still have yet to get over this... drove back on monday, did alittle shopping at castle towers on the way home...

tuesday... attended the pressure care course at ILS, it was really interesting and informative, and for $22, the food was good... I was not looking forward to eating there, and was thinking of eating something else, ended up eating the asian noodles... and saw uni people at the course, and Karen and Tina... small world really... Karen and I ended up going to Macquarie centre for a drink and chatted whilst waiting for pong...

so this week was a short week for me really... but it felt long as usual... and found out that Kate has agreed to rotate to cancercare... and Mel is the MRT OT for the time being until they have recruited a full time OT... and they have decided to delay our rotation day for a week, which means that I am now rotating on 26 Sept 2011... Sharon is not real pleased about this new development but there's nothing I could do... Karen just told me to stay out of it... it's not pleasant, as I am still wanting to maintain good relations with them and leave a good impression... so 3 weeks more before rotation... a little upset becos most of the team will not be around when I rotate... had more cake again today, work people organised morning tea for Andrew who has returned to work after 3 months of sick leave, and Kate baked mud cake which was very delicious I have to say... so much more nicer than my flourless choc cake... damn...

tomorrow going out for lunch at Meat and Wine Co, followed by dessert at Lindt's and then karaoke... thoroughly spoilt for my birthday this year...

TOuCHeD...

had a very special birthday this year, thanks to family, friends and colleagues, one of the best and unforgettable ones I have had... despite having to work and having to bake my own birthday cake for work... this year was also extra special, as I turn 26 and I was born on 26 Aug... it's not happening again this lifetime... cos you only turn 26 once... *obviously*...

Elinor, Nat OT and Jenny had decided to fill my table and chair with balloons and I was nicely surprised when I walked into the office in the morning... they also bought me flowers and a card and a movie voucher... a very big thank you to them... for their efforts... Nat PT also bought me a strawberry cheesecake... which we had after the rehab inservice, had another nice surprise when I walked into the inservice and Dr Wong immediately wished me happy birthday and everyone else in the room followed suit... a little embarrassed by it all... that's one of the good things about working in a hospital, you know more people and hence received many birthday wishes yesterday... Elinor and Tina decided that they would locate a recipe for icing for the flourless choc cake which I baked and we ended up going into the ADL kitchen and making the icing there... much appreciated despite all the groaning and mishaps I had whilst making the icing... becos I know how busy they must be... had an afternoon tea in the office where we had the flourless choc cake which I baked (I thought they were bitter btw) and Tina also baked mini cupcakes... they were good... and after coming home, auntie made really good lasagne for me on request... and Christine bought me a cake (yes, another one!)... and there was another round of singing and blowing of candles... I was sooo caked out yesterday... no more cakes for awhile... and saw all the well wishes on facebook last night and this morning... very very thankful to all who have made my special day really unforgettable and made me feel special, loved and missed... and the celebrations are going to continue until next saturday...

one sad thing which I also found out yesterday was that Nat PT is leaving MRT for inpatient rehab, which is something she really enjoyed, hence despite being sad that she is leaving, I am happy for her... so she will be leaving one week before I rotate, so there will be a new PT and OT in MRT come September... I am going to be sad to leave MRT, not just becos I was the first one to start in the team and there was no team when I started so I was on my own for a good 6 months, I do have to say that the first few months was really difficult, cos I do not know anybody and really, anything come to that... and had to make the extra effort to take initiative... and get to know the PTs, the NUMs and the ward clerks... but I was also the one researching for the equipment that the team may need, doing the draft policies and procedures for MRT OT, and I also like to think that I am one of the founding members of the team... and it's a really good team once everyone came onboard...

26... hmmm...

decided to update my blog with a quick update... nothing very much happening...

work... was told recently that the rotation has changed, they have decided to take stroke out of the rotation and replace it with cancercare... was quite looking forward to rotating into stroke next year, but there's nothing much I can do now... told my manager that I don't think I am ready for cancercare, so we are now waiting for the decision of my other colleague who is on the rotation program to decide... but I am pretty sure I want to go into aged care still...

latest news is that Kpop is coming to Sydney... finally!!!! the good thing is we finally get to see the Kpop groups live in action, the sad part is Super Junior's not part of the lineup... damn... it would be really good if they were... tix not on sale yet, but it will be held at ANZ stadium on 12 Nov 2011... hopefully we will get really awesome seats!

my birthday is coming... still not able to get over the fact that I have to bake my own cakes for work... such a drag, and I have to do it on Thurs night... although my birthday weekend seems to be activity-filled... so I am actually looking forward to it... it will definitely be better than last year, when I was still working at 7pm on my birthday... and having to shove my dinner down in the car whilst waiting...

until next time... take care and keep checking for updates :) P.s: I am probably the only one reading my own blog now really... I don't think anybody else is blogging nowadays... oh well...

梁静茹。。。 赞。。。

went to watch transformers 3 and harry potter last week... first up, transformers 3... I personally thought the effects were good, but still preferred transformers 1, and megan fox, don't like the new female lead... she is really annoying and she does nothing except pose and prance around in skimpy clothing... at least megan fox's character was tough and she actually did constructive stuff... harry potter... I am so upset (still) that there is no more harry potter, I really enjoyed the movie... thinking back to the first movie, it was really kiddy but gradually got 'darker' by like the third movie... I was scared at some parts of the last movie, let alone the little kids... still remembered the first time I heard of 'harry potter' was in sec 3... when one of the red cross members mentioned the book...

remembered two posts ago, I mentioned that I heard from Bernadette out of the blue, and up until today, I have yet to meet up with her... she kept postponing on me every week, and now 4 weeks later, I decided that if she is not sincere about meeting up, then why should I be the one having to sms her every Friday asking whether she can make it... enough is enough... it's not worth it...

just a quick note on a korean drama which I watched recently... called my princess... it was crap, funny at times, but plot was poor and my advice is... don't waste your time... watched the new taiwanese drama, love you... with rainie yang and joseph chang... I thought it's really funny up until episode 14... and then it started becoming draggy, and it's still dragging on now... although it's said to be similar to fated to love you... fated to love you is much much better... but the verdict is... watch the show up until episode 14 and you can probably skip till the last episode which has yet to air...

decided to go to Korea in april 2012... have already applied for 3 weeks' leave, still awaiting for approval... researched on accomodation options, it's quite expensive, but I have decided to stay somewhere close to the tourism place, so if we need to arrange for day trips or find out more info, we know where to go and not have to travel far...

work-wise... something really irritating happened on Friday, I don't want to go into details cos it's definitely not worth spending time talking about it here and wasting space... bottomline is one of my patients decided he would have a "fall" to prove that he could not walk, and I ended up having to do all the annoying paperwork and reporting... and I was so looking forward to going to fish leong's concert that night, and this ruined my mood and my whole weekend... have to go and pray more to get rid of these "shuai ren"...

anyway, which brings me to the topic of Liang Jing Ru's concert... it was in a word, awesome!! really enjoyed the concert, she is amazing... she sang for 3 hours, with breaks in between and interactions in between with the crowd, and she even came down the stage and went one round amongst the fans... and the other good thing was she sang alot of her older songs, which was great, cos I did not like any of her new songs... her voice is really amazing... she is definitely one of my fav singers... the only downside is probably when my camera ran out of battery, arrghh... thank god it was towards the end, but I would like to have gotten all the songs on HD...

in the coming weeks, I am rotating to aged care soon, which should be 'fun', still undecided if I should be glad or not... uncle and auntie are going over to new york to visit michelle for 6 weeks... and I have decided to treat myself and give myself a birthday present... will update on how the 'birthday present' turns out... I am actually quite looking forward to it...

Brrr....

sometimes you can't say things too early, last post I was complaining how much free time I had and now I am physically and mentally exhausted cos work has been so busy... full caseload and we have a waiting list which is a first for the team... and it does not help that I have a second year student whom I am sharing supervision with... it is a coindence really, cos when I was on placement at Nepean, I was doing my second year placement and now being a supervisor for the first time, I have a second year student... and it feels really strange completing the evaluation forms again but as a supervisor... it's weird... had Thai lunch on Wed cos it was Frances' birthday, I hate Thai, but no choice, cos she is in my team... even though I did not enjoy lunch, I was able to find out a little more about the members in my team... and build rapport... which is very important working in the hospital and in a team... and on Thurs, we had a farewell lunch for Kate who has left for RPA, I did not enjoy lunch becos it was Thai again... and everyone was just talking in small groups... but I was really glad I went to after work drinks... it was a small group of us, and we had so much fun and laughs... or I had fun... Dawn is hilarious and I am going to miss Kate's laugh... I really felt like we bonded that night... stayed longer than I thought I would cos I thought I would be bored like at Nat's birthday recently... had an incident recently which was patient related... instead of coming to me and discussing with me what the problem was, Nat went to speak to Deanna instead, and after speaking to Deanna as well, we have concluded that it was a procedure related issue... but Nat and I have yet to speak about it and I wonder if should raise this issue with her... we have been getting along quite well up until this happened and I am now more cautious around her...

started baking cos colleagues have persuaded me to started learning how to bake and cook... so I baked my first flourless chocolate cake which was unsuccessful and yucky, but the second attempt was way better... definitely have to use dark chocolate to reduce the flavour of almond meal... next challenge appeared to be baking cupcakes I think... and then today, one of the diversional therapists suggested that I start learning knitting as well... I was like "what's this?? am I training to become a housewife??!!" baking maybe, dunno about knitting... can't imagine myself knitting...

work finally approved of my leave over xmas and new year... definitely looking forward to going home, but the down side is that the air tickets are sooooooooo expensive... but it was a choice of making use of the holidays or using up my precious annual leave days... so no choice...

we also bought tickets to Fish Leong's concert end july... really looking forward to this as well... although I know it's not going to be as exciting and fancy as SHE, I am a huge fan of her songs so will definitely update on the concert at next post...

it's that time of the year again, tax time... sian... this time I am going to try getting the accountant to help me do it and see if it is worth it...

DRaMa AddiCTiOn...

had my long weekend... drove up to hunter valley with pong, visited some wineries, bought cheese and stayed over at Harrigan's Irish pub for a night... the accomodation was ok, it looked nicer in the pictures... visited the spa retreat at crowne plaza... it was really nice and relaxing... but expensive... it was an indulgence really...

work has been quite a drag lately... could it be becos now that our new TA has started, I am able to free up some time, or is it becos I am not thinking and doing enough for my patients... dunno...

got an sms from Bernadette suddenly out of the blue about two weeks ago... after not hearing from her for the last 6 months... I was really surprised... glad that she is ok, but also wondered the reason behind the sudden lost of contact... meeting up with her for lunch on sat so will know why then...

still addicted to watching my korean dramas... first up is Sungkyunkwan scandal... I really liked the show... it's funny, the lead actress is really cute and I liked the character "Geol-oh"... :) I would rate the show 8/10... what I did not like was the main actor, he is so boring... and the conversations between the characters are sooo slow... next drama was 49 days... prisy was telling me previously how good it was and I think that got my expectations up... the show was really sad, but I thought the show on the whole was ok... probably 6/10... spoiler alert! the character of the "ghost" was quite annoying initially but she became less annoying later in the show and I really liked the interactions between her and the character whom she possess the body of... it was a sad ending... which you could already probably tell from the title of the show...

bought a new camera... a Samsung one... much better zoom as compared to the old one... only thing I found was it is quite slow in processing... but pretty good at this stage... really need to start spending less... not saving much at all recently...

冬天终于降临。。。

finally a long weekend again... this will be the last one before the next one in october... met up with Alana at castle towers today for lunch... it was good to see her again, I think the last time we met up was last year... and she's pregnant! happy for her...

talking about pregnant... just saw a post on huimin's facebook album saying that some of our crescent classmates are pregnant??!! and there was even one who is a shocker... although it's been 10 years since I last saw her, but she definitely is not one whom I would have thought would become a mum... man, should I be panicking now?? people my age are either getting married or having kids and what am I doing??!! watching my dramas... I am self-declaring myself as a drama addict... anyway... I still believe in "shun qi zi ran"...

finished watching 'slave hunter'... I knew it was a sad ending... the show was not great, there was too much talking but I have to say, there were some nice and funny parts as well... one of those shows which is good when you watch it for the first time but not a show which I will repeat watching... unlike 'boys over flowers'... I am so very saddd... for some reason, I really like the show and I think I have watched it more than 10 times...

I also watched 'personal taste'... in terms of plot, not good... and it was getting draggy towards the end... there were some sweet scenes, but not realistic...

we were planning a roadtrip to hunter valley this long weekend, but it's raining pretty much the whole weekend... sian... looking like it is going to be a stay at home long weekend for me...

work wise... we have finally got our therapy assistant... and she's really good... very proactive... work has been very busy though...

HALfwAy thrOuGh the YEaR...

nothing very much happening nowadays... work is still tiring... the weather is still cold...

finally it is my ADO tomorrow... no plans as yet... probably going to go eat the buffet at Seven Hills RSL... just resting for the day I guess...

met up with Nat 2 weeks ago... at Chatswood... it was good to catch up with her, it has been awhile... just had lunch and chatted... met up with Yochi, Anna and Jo yesterday in the city... had lunch and saw Anna's baby... she still looked the same, before and after giving birth...

watched the uefa champions league this morning... woke up at 5am to catch the match... although I used to support Man Utd, but Barcelona is definitely the better team... and they deserve to win... it was a good match... and it was also good to hear that despite the buildup and rivalry, both teams were still gracious after the match and spoke highly of each other before the match...

no new dramas atm... still have a pile of relatively old korean shows to get through, but simply not in the right mood... and I heard that the new rainie yang's drama is good... saw some bits and thought this is really similar to fated to love you... the main guy lead also dressed like xiaotian in the show... but I am definitely not going to fall into the trap of chasing a drama which has yet to end... it is extremely painful...

looking forward to the long weekend in June, no plans yet though... and to my next ADO in June... we are heading to the hunter valley for a relaxing long weekend... hopefully it would be good...

now that I am not working on the weekends... I probably should be working harder on looking for a place... but have not done that so far... procrastinating... this is too hard...

SkiPPed aUtuMn and WeNT STraiGht into WiNter...

nainai went back to singapore yesterday... I am going to miss her... would like for her to stay here but it's getting too cold...

talking about the weather... it's only May and it's already freezing cold... it's looking like winter will be bitter cold... just like our past summer... it was worse than stinking hot...

work is as usual physically and mentally tiring... our team is finally settling in... although we are still recruiting but at least we have most of the team on board... still trying to establish good relationships at work...

starting to do some research on our potential Korea trip next year... still dunno which month yet at this stage... but just thought instead of joining a tour group, we might be able to do free and easy... recommendations or advice anyone???

went to the movies to watch source code today... it was actually good... it was more intellectually stimulating than thriller... I quite enjoy the movie... there are some good movies coming out soon... X men first class, transformers 3, harry potter...

EAstEr TRip...

I am back from my Cairns trip... hmm... overall, I am going to rate the trip 6/10...

day 1: Sunday 24/4/11- 1.5 hour trip one way out to the outer barrier reef... the waters were quite choppy and it rained during our ferry ride out to the reef, making the boat really rocky... and being me, even after taking travel sickness pills and buying the travel calm wrist bands, I still felt like throwing up... whilst we were almost out at the reef, I was told that I could not scuba dive as I had childhood asthma, prisy fell and cut her leg needing stitches, so in the end, both prisy and I did not scube dive, only pong did it, and I ended up snorkelling... which I sucked at as well cos I simply could not grasp the breathing technique of having to breathe through the mouth rather than the nose... which meant that I drank lots of seawater, did not really see any fishes, the water was really murky due to the rain... the trip back was really rocky as well... I felt sick pretty much the whole day... after returning back to cairns, we headed straight to the medical centre... prisy was told by the doctor that she is not to touch water or participate in any contact sports for the next week... she was not happy to say the least...

day 2: a day trip to Kuranda village, went to the village via cable car and returned via train... nothing really much to see in the village though... the food was crap as well... the highlight of the day was probably seeing the barron falls...

day 3: this day was the highlight of our trip... had to wake up at 3am though... first activity was hot air ballooning... was taken up the mountain and got to catch the firing up of the hot air balloons... it was truly amazing... a tip for any one who is thinking of doing hot air ballooning... if you are doing a 30mins trip... choose the second trip... we got to enjoy the whole 30mins of the trip and did not have to worry about making sure that the balloon lands on an appropriate spot... the only thing was we did not manage to catch the sun rising... but on the whole, I really enjoyed hot air ballooning, I thought it would be scary but it was really good...

following hot air ballooning, we had breakfast discount vouchers and one of them were discount for breakfast at the Sebel, 5 star hotel... we were like, after the last 2 days of crap food, we are so going for it... when we arrived at the hotel at 0930, we were told that the buffet would end at 1000, so we pretty much have 30mins to stuff ourselves at the buffet... which was exactly what we did that morning... we did not even want to stop eating to take pictures or talk... we just kept eating... the food was really good... and they actually had real honeycomb... which apparently is very expensive... after breakfast, we were so stuffed, walked back to the apartment and had a nap...

in the afternoon, pong and I headed off to white water rafting whilst prisy stayed in... when we were going around doing hotel pickups, this large group of older people boarded and we were like oh no, please not let us be on the same rafting group... thank god, younger people came up and we were in the "younger" group... there were lots of people when we arrived at the barron river... alot of asians, mainly japanese and chinese... had to hire shoes, helmet and safety vests were provided... the walk down to the river was quite scary though... it was quite rocky and the shoes are not the best ones to be walking in... however, once we were in the raft... it was really exciting and the water was not very cold... the rapids were not too bad as well, there was only one moment when I was quite scared... another tip if you do not want to fall into the water... sit at the back! we were lucky to be sitting at the back, and we still got wet but not as bad as the 4 others sitting in front... the front two people got the worst of it... another highlight was the guide allowed us to have a quick 'float' down the river and we were the only ones doing it out of th 4 other rafts... it was really good... did not see any fishes or anything weird whilst I was in the water, which was a good thing... all in all, a really good day...

day 4: we decided to go out into the reef again as prisy did not get to see the reef or any fishes at all on the first day... we chose to do the semi-sub and glass bottom boat tour... the weather was very windy and cold that day... as a result, the water was extremely choppy and the boat really rocky... the good thing was the trip to green island was 45mins, half the time required on the first day... when we got to the island... there was nothing to do whilst waiting for the semi-sub tour, it started to rain... when we were finally in the semi- sub, the water was becoming even more choppy and the semi-sub was really narrow and stuffy and rocky... the water was murky, can't really see anything underwater... I started to feel really nauseated, sweating, and sick... I had to go back up to the surface and sit on the deck and in the rain otherwise I am going to throw up... I have been told after that my lips went purple and white... it was that bad... I had to pass on the glass bottom tour... whilst I was waiting for prisy and pong to finish their tour, it started to really pour and there was not much shelter at the jetty, so I was standing at the half shelter and getting wet from the bottom down, I was freezing cold and people all started coming to the shelter to wait for the ferry... all of us were wet by the time we got onto the ferry... the trip back, needless to say, was choppy and rocky... not a good day... after the trip back, we went to the shopping centre for lunch and wait around for the airport transfer... when we finally arrived at sydney, it started to pour... again, not a good day, getting rained on twice in a day...

all in all, the trip was not as good as I had expected... cairns is not one of the cities I would be going back to anytime soon... next destination: South Korea!

满足感。。。

work has been quite tiring recently, but I am trying to be positive and think of it as a way to lose weight... today has been one of the more rewarding days since I started work in the hospital... one of my patients whom I have been seeing for ages has finally succeeded in performing slideboard transfers and is able to move around the hospital independently... after being bed bound for approx 8 months now... being able to work with him to achieve this has been really tiring but it was worth it, and it made me feel good about myself and the job...

one more week before we leave for cairns... in the process of getting some contact lenses for the trip... I honestly think we are going to have troubles with putting and taking them out... the optometrist did it for me that day and it took us awhile to actually get it in, cos I kept closing my eyes and I can actually feel my eyeballs rolling back while she is trying to keep my eyes open... I am also going to get seasick tablets and these bracelets hoping that they are going to help... I really hope my period comes soon as well otherwise, I dunno what I am going to do... cross my fingers...

met up with melissa yesterday... I honestly felt like I have not seen her for ages but I did actually saw her last when she came to visit in 2008... the down side was that she was staying in a hotel in manly and I had to travel for 2hours to get there from work... and having to drive round the block four times before getting a park... I am definitely not driving there again... it was nice to catch up with her though... practised my chinese... will probably see here again in october when she comes for her training again... this is one of the occasions when facebook is useful... :)

borders is closing down... and the only store remaining is at bondi junction... far away... where am I going to read from now on??!!

found out recently that anna is pregnant and got a msg from her this afternoon that she has given birth to a boy... man I have not seen or spoken to her since yochi's wedding which was in july 2010?? and zhenzhen is getting married this year??!! another colleague who is of the same age as me is also getting married this year... I feel so old now...

LOokiNG fORwaRd to weEkENds... FiNallY...

nothing very much happening these few weeks, except that I am exhausted every day after work... have 2 heavy patients, who require alot of physical assistance with transferring... I was covered in sweat after every session... urgghh...

this week is my first week of work free weekends... did not do very much today though... spent the day at Borders... rewatched a hongkong drama, chanced upon this chinese drama called the mystery pearl... not bad actually although it is a sad ending... I like the special effects... there is a trend nowadays with chinese dramas... they all have a similar timetravel theme...

had dinner with Amelia and Karen on Monday... it was pouring that day, really wanted to postpone the dinner, but it was too late... it was nice to catch up with them... saw Karen's new car... a toyota corolla but way nicer than mine... she has a skylight on the roof and bluetooth and usb functions... really envious... but I am still really happy with Auris... it has really helped me alot...

looking forward to the april easter break... Stupid Woolies cancelled my staff discount card, which means I can't get cheaper petrol and no 5% discount...

MArCHinG all ThE WaY...

I have got 3 announcements to make this time around... Firstly, the PT has finally started so now there's me and the PT, which I think is much better and she is nice as well... although I feel so inexperienced beside her, she is really good at what she does... really hope that I can learn more from her and really hope that we will work well together... still waiting for the clinical nurse specialist, registrar and therapy assistant to be recruited...

Secondly, we have finally confirmed our cairns trip, after weeks of headache and stress, it's been settled and now it's all about getting our stuff ready and organised when april comes... we need a new camera... I am quite excited...

Thirdly, I did not think the time would come that soon but I have finally decided to resign from woolies... the main contributing factor was my leave request for easter got rejected... I was like no way, I am going to Cairns... and the same situation is going to arise when christmas comes and I want to go home... so I am determined to quit... work-free weekends here I come...

SLowLy iMpROviNg...

it's still been quite hot these few weeks... pong and papa came... original plan was to visit the hunter valley but we did not go in the end... went out to eat alot though... which means that I am currently broke atm... other than that, nothing very exciting happened... watched tangled... highly recommend this cartoon, it is really funny and cute... mandy moore was really good in it... also watched the korean drama secret garden... I have to say that it may be that my expectations are too high, after all the good reviews, I personally found it was only ok... it was cute and funny at times, but not enough to make me really hooked on the show...

still trying to organise my easter cairns holiday, becos of the cyclone which happened in queensland and cairns, I was really hesitant to go ahead, but if I don't go now, there would not be another 5 day weekend for a while... and the fact that it is the holiday period, flights are very expensive and running out fast... headache... cross my fingers, hopefully everything will go according to plan... I am actually really excited about this package... adventure sports involved ie diving, hot air ballooning and white water rafting... workwise... nothing really much happening, except from tomorrow onwards, there will be another member in our mobile rehab team, the PT is finally starting so hopefully our service will be better... and I would be able to do more stuff and be more effective...

saw a property last saturday during the open house... we really liked it, however, after meeting the broker, we are at the same issue like the time before... we need more money... :(

兔年快乐。。。

the past 4 weeks have been crazy for me at work... resulting in me buckling under the pressure one day last week... hopefully things would be back to normal next week when one of my colleagues return... the upside is that I have indeed learnt alot over the past 4 weeks...

it has been stinking hot for the past 2 weeks, it was 40 degrees on australia day... we went to the city for karaoke so it was not that bad... but when we arrived home, it was really boiling hot at home... the room was like an oven, we had to turn on the air conditioning and I slept on the floor downstairs that day cos the bed was so hot... when is autumn coming??!!

fluffy's gone... for about 2 weeks already... saw him in the morning but when I return from work, he's gone... I still can't help but look out the windows every now and then to see if he returned, but he is well and truly gone now... :(

rewatching it started with a kiss, ariel lin really cracks me up especially in part1, her character is so stupid and prideless... she is worse in part2 and is not as funny... waiting for pong to bring new dramas back... had my ado yesterday, one day a month does not seem that much, but I find myself really looking forward to my day off every month...

still in the process of organising for the great barrier reef trip, it's taking awhile to organise and the more I think about it, the more I am concerned about the issue of being seasick... and most probably having to wear contacts...

michelle's gone to new york to work already... it's snowing over there, as opposed to stinking hot here...

no chinese new year for me this year... miss out on the hong baos this year... don't have enough leave to go home... so will be stuck here for now... well... Happy Chinese New Year then!

FLuffY...

the first post for 2011...

hmm... did nothing much over the new year holiday period... mainly watching the hongkong show... in my opinion, I would rate it 6/10... mainly becos it was more of a comedy rather than anything else... not too bad actually...

our relative finally want back to perth after 2 weeks here... after one week, I really cannot stand her... the way she kept repeating how good the things she did were... seriously... by the second week, my strategy was to limit the amount of contact I had with her...

work wise... running off my feet since they decided that I should cover for one of my rehab senior who is on leave... mentally and physically exhausted mostly every day of the week... maybe I would lose some weight now... learning alot, but really tired... had my performance review yesterday... it was alright... just to keep learning and showing improvements over the next few months... had my first home visit this morning... it was really tiring... and after coming back from the visit... spent alot of time organising stuff... took the whole day just doing stuff for this one patient... another one tomorrow... another one next week...

I have decided to take up the opportunity over the Easter 5 day weekend to go to the great barrier reef... otherwise there will not be another better time to go... hopefully everything goes well with the planning and I will be able to go... looking forward to this holiday!

following from the excitement of finding out about the santa bubble, another Secret Santa gave me one that day... and is still growing bigger by the day... not that it is really of use... just for "bai mei" purpose...

also... since last Tuesday... we had a new guest appear in our backyard... a small bunny... he is really cute... he really looks like an Easter bunny... I have named it Fluffy!!! we have decided not to block off the exits... so he can come and go as he please... but I think he has decided to stay as he kept going out the backyard and returning... he is too cute...

2011, HErE wE cOMe...

christmas eve at work was such a drag... everyone was already in holiday mode and no one really wanted to do anything that day... but the good thing was I was able to leave work a little earlier that day...

christmas day... went to eat zattar at banksia... it was yummy as usual, was really craving it actually, and it was good although it was so hot that day... stayed home for the rest of the afternoon, and auntie finally came...everyone's question was what were we going to do with her for the next 2 weeks??

boxing day... the good thing was I did not have to work both days... was raining in the morning and became really hot in the afternoon... spent most part of the day at my cousin's cousin's house... nothing really exciting except we were playing kinect with the kids... my auntie brought over the hongkong series can't buy me love... which I had been wanting to watch... still halfway through the show... it's funny mostly, but there's way too much talking, and that's really fast talking... and it's not your typical dramatic hongkong series... I will have to rate it after I finish watching...

Monday... off work... went to the city with auntie... wanted to check out the new opened westfield... everything in there were branded stuff... so needless to say, we did not spend much time in there... got to eat my spicy beef and went karaoke with prisy and later auntie joined us... went to the movies that evening to watch tron legacy... my opinion is... don't bother watching if you are watching it for a good plot cos there's really none... the only thing that it had going for it was the special effects which only lasted for the first hour... and it was all talking after that...

tuesday... off work too... yippee... all of us drove down to stanwell tops lookout (again!), to the temple (Again!) and to kiama blowhole point... the weather was really good actually... and there were so many people at the lookout... and this was the first time after being there so many times that I actually saw people paragliding and hang-gliding, which would probably explain the crowd... there was actually alot of people everywhere we went... this time there were many huge waves?? at the blowhole point... unlike the last time I was there which was with Huimin, there was actually none... it was really quite exciting... and they went till really high as well... finally the long weekend came and gone... it was back to work for the next two days... :(

work was really slow though... everyone were still in the holiday mood and no one really wanted to be there... when we were about to leave for work yesterday... one of my colleagues gave me a christmas santa bauble... and I was really surprised... I really wanted one... although it was really for the novelty cos it really does not do anything... I was really curious about how it all works when my colleague got one from her secret santa... and tried to google it as well, but nothing useful came up... in the end, one of my colleagues suggested that we ring national geographic cos they stock the product and enquire... so I did that during lunchtime on wednesday and we were all cracking up... the sales rep at the other end was really serious and sincere though in explaining how it worked... it was hilarious... we had a really good laugh that day... auntie gave a treat yesterday evening at this chinese restaurant at rhodes... the food was not too bad actually...

finally another 4 day weekend... although I have to work on sunday... it is going to be stinking hot again... the best plan would be to stay indoors... no confirmed plans as to what we would be doing, so probably just trying to finish watching the show now...

I won't bother with a new year resolution this time... cos I never seem to be able to fulfill them anyway... just to be healthy, happy and be smooth sailing at work... establish good relationships with colleagues...

暴风雨。。。

hmmm... today has to be one of the more memorable days since commencing work at Nepean... everything was going as per usual until after lunch, when the sky started becoming really dark and ominous and before you know it, it was pouring, rain was pelting down and there was alot of hail... my first thought was... OH NO! AURIS!!! my car is going to be damaged from all that hail coming down... went to take the elevator to go up to the wards and bad luck, the light flickered and the elevator stopped, started flashing 5 instead of 2, where we were, and I was like... you have got to be kidding me!!?? no way I am going to be stuck in the elevator when there is a storm going... thank god the doors opened after a few seconds and I decided to take the stairs instead...

after approx half an hour, got a page from a colleague informing me that the roof in front of our office has just collapsed and we had to evacuate from the office immediately... went down and started packing our stuff and going into the students' room for the time being... all of us were told to stay there until further notice, and when everyone had gathered, we were hearing things like some parts of the hospital has been flooded, roofs have collapsed, and they were moving the patients and have declared the hospital disaster level1... which apparently meant that we had to stay put and not go up into the wards... whilst waiting, we were hearing things like the underground carpark has been flooded, there were ambulances flooding the hospital as a result of the collapse of the roofs of the local pub and shopping centre... I know this probably sounds bad, with people injured, but my main concern was my car really... had to wait in the office for the next hour before finishing for the day... when I finally got to the car, I was so relieved to find Auris still intact with no dent marks visible... and after hearing the news, found out that the storm has pretty much hit the whole of NSW... not just western sydney... really did bring back memories of when we had the really bad hailstorm a few years ago and I was all alone at home... the hailstones were the size of golfballs and smashed the windows in the lounge area...

it was one hell of a day... one week more till christmas, not that we are celebrating, having a relative visit, but am looking forward to having the days off...

COuntDowN to XMas STaRts...

mum and nainai are here... which meant that I am off Woolies for 3 weeks, which is really great, really enjoying my weekends... spending time with them... brought them out shopping... was planning to go visit hunter valley but it was raining this weekend, and nainai seemed to have caught the cold... hopefully the weather will clear up by the end of this week, cos I am looking forward to our roadtrip next week...

just went to the movies to watch harry potter... it was really good, sad but good, looking forward to the final instalment... have to admit that I totally do not remember the story... hmm... maybe I should read the book over the christmas break... watched backup plan and how to train your dragon... both were really funny... would recommend them if you want a good laugh...

work has been going ok I guess, nothing really new... colleagues are nice but we just don't seem to be clicking to date... dunno if it is the personalities or maybe it takes time... we'll see...

ThE seAsOn I hATe thE mOSt...

countdown to christmas and the end of 2010... summer is here... it has been really hot for the last few days... nothing very exciting happening atm... mum and nainai arriving this week... and we have received news that one of our relatives whom I have not seen for ages is coming to visit over christmas... joy... not... no new dramas so I am rewatching my collection of dramas... work is still ok... the official word is that the mobile rehab team will not be commencing until next year... so currently I am assisting with the acute team caseload... but hopefully will also be able to work on rehab stuff... and it looks like I am going to be stuck here for awhile until I have sufficient leave to go home...

PLodDiNg aLonG...

yesterday was my one month anniversary in the hospital... still no news as to whether the team will go ahead and whether the other team members have been recruited... so I am still the team atm... hopefully we will hear good news soon... work is going well on the whole... still trying to get used to the smells, having to carry bulky equipment over long distances etc...

completed baker king drama... I would rate it 7/10... the plot is good, however lacking in chemistry between the male lead and the girl he ended up with... I would have preferred that he went with Eugene... but on the whole, touching drama... I would recommend this drama...

met up with NAt, Bernadette and Flea yesterday for dinner... the food was not impressive... spent the whole dinner listening to Flea's grievances against certain people at RSC... she basically hated everyone there and having worked there for almost 21 months, I can't believe I did not notice these things happening... things were not as rosy as it appeared to be... thank god I have left the company...

other than that, nothing really exciting happening, except mum and nainai are coming to visit in Nov... so that should be interesting...

臭臭的。。。

work is going ok I guess, although I do go home with a headache most of the days due to the huge amts of brain drain... feels like I have to learn everything that was taught during uni again... and bcos we have quite alot of people now and I am working in a different area from everyone else, it is difficult to form bonds with any of them... hopefully things will become better once I get the hang of what I am supposed to do... got my new uniforms today... we are entitled to 5 shirts, 3 pants and a jacket... which is pretty good, no need to pay for them and no need to waste time and brain cells thinking of what to wear for the next day... and we get an 'allocated day off (ado)' every month, which is probably one of the few good things about working in public hospitals... the thing I really am not used to is the smell, I know it probably sounds really bad but the patients really do stink and I find myself coming into frequent contact with all sorts of body fluids... yuck...

the long weekend just passed... went to the city with pong for karaoke and went to ceci's for lunch... bought the baker king dvd... hopefully the show will become better judging from the reviews I read... atm it seems alittle draggy...

other than that, nothing very exciting happening... it's been raining these few days but it definitely looks like summer is nearing... hello flies :(

FREakiNg oUT...

survived the first week at nepean hospital... first 3 days was hospital orientation and only on thursday did I commenced observation in the rehab unit... both in and outpatients... and that was when I started to freak out... I have no idea what to do and what to expect... and the plan for next week is for me to spend some time in the acute wards... oh man... and I found out that my position was meant for a level 2 OT... seriously... I really hope for a miracle otherwise I really dunno what I am going to do... working in a hospital is really different... cos you are surrounded by people and the OTs all gather in the staffroom to eat during lunch... there is no table, you pretty much have to hold your lunch in your lap and eat...

and what else I found out... you have to buy your own birthday cake on your birthday... you have to pay for your courses... you have to use your own pens... you have to be responsible for cleaning up urine and poo if your patient suddenly lets go, not the nurses??!! *faints*

this decision to work in the hospital is not looking too smart at this stage... what have I gotten myself into??!!

WiSH mE GooD LuCk...

tuesday... we did manage to go to the zoo and it was only drizzling alittle when we were there so we managed to see most of the animals there, it only started to pour whilst we were waiting for the ferry... and after that, went for karaoke... now that bog echo has renovated, it has become quite cool with disco lights and touch screens... so we have decided to go to big echo instead of k mix...

went to the city to meet up with Alana and Nat for lunch at Lindt's... that was good but becos they only had their hour of lunchbreak, we could not spend more time together... but it was nice to be able to spend some time catching up with them...

highlight of the week... definitely the S.H.E concert... totally worth the money, better than Backstreet Boys and much much better than Jay Chou... they sang mostly older songs and there was interactions with the crowd as well... got some good pics and videos... still cannot believe that I got to see them in concert... it was unreal... really want to go to the Super Junior concert in Singapore in January 2011...

oh and I finally got my full driving licence on Wednesday... after 3 years of driving... so goodbye to red and green plates! one more day before a new challenge commences...